Building Capacity for Audience Research:Reflections on the Audience Research Collaborative

In 2012, the Performing Arts Program of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation extended an invitation to a group of its grantees to participate in a multi-year program to build capacity for audience research. Over a period of two and a half years, a WolfBrown team led by Rebecca Ratzkin provided customized technical assistance to 46 grantees. Building Capacity for Audience Research candidly distills lessons learned from the ARC initiative for other funders who'd contemplate investing in the capacity of their grantees to gather and interpret audience data.

The report is organized thematically:

Foreword by John McGuirk, director, Performing Arts Program, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

Introduction and Context – argues that today's accountability environment drives nonprofits and their funders to seek out more and more data

Research Capacity: To Build or Not to Build? – frames key questions about the benefits and challenges of capacity building